PERRY HALL, Maryland -- Baltimore County police officer has died after being shot in the line of duty Monday, police said.
Baltimore County police have not confirmed the officer’s death, but said a female officer was injured.“Motorists should avoid Belair Road from Forge Road to Ebenezer Road,” the department said. “#BCoPD is searching for an armed suspect.”
Governor Larry Hogan offered his condolences in a post on Twitter.
“The suspect who committed this terrible crime remains at large, and [Maryland State Police] are assisting Baltimore County Police in their search,” Hogan said. “The state stands ready to provide any and all resources necessary to capture this individual and bring them to justice.
Councilman David Marks said police informed him the officer was shot Monday afternoon while investigating “suspicious activity” near Bel Air and Klausmier roads in Perry Hall.
“It’s a densely populated area with a lot of stream valleys and places where people can hide,” said Marks, who lives nearby. “My heart just goes out to the family of this police officer who has been taken from us.”
The incident began at 2 p.m. when officers responded to 3 Linwen Way for a report of a suspicious vehicle, county police spokesman Cpl. Shawn Vinson, speaking from MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center. Officers are still looking for at least one armed suspect, Vinson said.
County police said residents near that intersection should shelter in place.
Three elementary schools — Perry Hall, Seven Oaks and Gunpowder — were on “alert status” and not dismissed as normal, police said. “Alert status” means all exterior doors are monitored and outdoor activities are suspended.
Police asked parents not to try to go to the schools, but to call administrators for answers.
The manhunt set off fears in the surrounding area.
A county police officer with a long gun peered into the woods at Gunview Road near Oak White Road, while a long line of neighbors sat in their idling cars at a roadblock.
Heather Cummins, 54, lives nearby and was anxious to get home to her 80-year-old father, who was home alone.
“It’s not that it’s an inconvenience,” she said. “It’s the concern that someone’s on the loose and we’ve lost the life of a precious police officer.”
Jackie McDaniel, 73, who lives in the Red Fox Farm neighborhood, said she had left to buy milk around 1 p.m. She called her sister, who was still at their home, when she heard about the shooting.
“All these police passed me on the Beltway,” she said. “I called my sister and told her, ‘Do not answer the buzzer. Do not let anyone in.’ We’re in a locked-entry building, but you never know.”
Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Meehan contributed to this article.
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